Fresh fruit distributor Chiquita Brands International has revealed that it has received a notice from the European Commission regarding an investigation into possible violations of competition law in the banana industry.
According to a report by Reuters, Chiquita was sent a Statement of Objections from the EC, a document in which the EC communicates its preliminary view related to a possible infringement of competition laws, related to a probe into activities in southern Europe between July 2004 and January 2006.
The European Commission had confirmed last week that it had sent a Statement ofObjections under EU antitrust rules to a number of companiesactive in the import and marketing of bananas, concerning their allegedparticipation in an illegal cartel.
The move followed a series of unannounced inspections carried out by theCommission in southern Europe during November 2007, which were sprungon the trade with a view to enforcing the Treaty on the Functioning ofthe EU on restrictive business practices.
Multinationals such as Fresh Del Monte Produce and Dole Food Company have already announced that they have received no Statement of Objections from the EC in relation to the investigation.
A Chiquita filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission said that the EC has questioned the granting of immunity or leniency on issues mentioned in the statement, although Chiquita has said that it believes it should be entitled to immunity.
The group said that a separate probe in northern Europe on a possible violation of competition law had concluded, and its final immunity from fines had been confirmed.
In that probe, the EU handed out fines to Dole and Weichert totalling €60.3m (US$82.4m) for price fixing in violation ofthe European Union's anti-trust laws between 1 January 2000 andDecember 2002 in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Following a three-year investigation, EC officials found US-based DoleFood Company and German firm Internationale Fruchtimport GesellschaftWeichert & Co guilty of forming a cartel that colluded on pricesfor bananas in several northern European markets.
Chiquita was deemed to be exempt from being fined as it had originally blown the whistle on the price-fixingactivity.
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